Olympus E-PL1 Image Tests

High ISO performance Diffraction Macro test Video

Compared to the Canon S90 & Nikon D300 Image test conclusions

High ISO performance

I thought the High-ISO performance was great and even ISO 1600 looked really good, and ISO 3200 is quite useable when properly exposed. I purposely picked a darker part of the photo to show off more noise, most of the photo had less noise. The small hexagons you see in the photo are part of the photo, I photographed a small colorful calendar and that's just the way it was printed.

ISO 100, 100% crop

ISO 200, 100% crop

ISO 400, 100% crop

ISO 800, 100% crop

ISO 1600, 100% crop

ISO 3200, 100% crop

ISO 3200, 100% crop, Noise reduction off

ISO 100, full photo

ISO 3200, full photo, Noise reduction on

Diffraction

I though results looked good all the way up to F16, which was surprising. I could notice some effects at F22. The pattern you see in the picture is part of the photo.

F5.6, 100% crop

F11

F16

F22

Macro tests

I could focus down to 2 1/16 inches with the 14-42mm kit lens, not bad for a kit lens. And the detail looks great.

I was about 3 5/8 inches from the end of the lens for this photo.

olympus e-pl1 macro test

100% crop of above photo.I think the photo shows great detail, even though the 14-42mm kit lens is not even a macro lens.

Video

I'll upload some video soon. The video clips I took were HD 1280x720 and looked excellent. The only caveat is that the camera is slow to auto-focus when the subject changes, or you zoom in/out, so it might not be the best for moving objects.

Compared to the Canon S90 & Nikon D300

I thought the Olympus E-PL1 held it's own to my Nikon D300 + 18-200mm lens, with some indoor tests and also shooting outdoors in sunny weather.

Oly E-PL1, indoor photo, 100% crop

Nikon D300, indoor photo

Canon S90, indoor photo

Olympus E-PL1, 14-42mm lens, 100% crop

Nikon D300, 18-200mm lens, 100% crop

Oly E-PL1, full shot

Nikon D300, full shot

Some Additional Olmypus E-PL1 photos

A see a little highlight clipping here. When I get my hands on the camera again I'll do some dynamic range testing compared to my other cameras.

Image test conclusions

Excellent, excellent, excellent. The sensor is much closer in size to a dSLR sensor than a compact sensor, and it shows. JPEGs straight out of the camera are colorful, punchy, full of contrast, and need little editing.